


All the Time

by forgetmequite



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Future Fic, Immortal Alec Lightwood, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-13
Updated: 2018-04-13
Packaged: 2019-04-22 11:34:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14307783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/forgetmequite/pseuds/forgetmequite
Summary: Three scenes from one eternity.





	All the Time

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really bad at imagining the far future but one must move out of their comfort zone for immortal!husbands.

**2317**

Magnus gritted his teeth discreetly, careful to make sure the man on the other side of the table could notice no chip in his impeccable armour.

He moved on the armchair he’d commandeered without being invited to sit down, leaning back and refusing to concede power to his opponent. He looked like a particularly confident king on his comfortable throne, and they both knew it.

Nevertheless, sometimes he’d have preferred not to play the game, even if he was the one winning. Not over something so miniscule yet so important as relieving a warlock child from Institute care after she’d been found in Battery Park having totally lost control of her powers.

“This issue is out of your jurisdiction,” the current Head of the Institute announced smugly. “And since we don’t even need you to touch up the wards, there’s no point to you being here. Leave the Institute as soon as possible.

The office might be the same, but the shadowhunter leadership in New York certainly had changed.

Magnus pretended to inspect his nails. “As I am sure you’re well aware, your current law states that in dealing with incidents concerning downworlders and mundanes, shadowhunters are to have a mediating role only, and the current guidelines from Idris recommend minimal involvement unless specifically requested.” He looked up from his nails. “I certainly have not.”

He found himself idly playing with one of his rings. He didn’t wear it often, but the bulky insignia of the family heirloom Alec had given him centuries ago was too obvious to be missed. Sometimes Magnus liked the message it sent to particularly unpleasant shadowhunters he had to negotiate with.

The Herondale kid in front of him (Magnus hadn’t bothered learning his name) scowled. “That thing killed several mundanes! That’s cause for a-“

“‘That thing’ that you’re talking about,” Magnus said coldly, “is a frightened seven-year-old currently being held in a prison cell.”

“Just treatment,” Herondale claimed. “When my ancestors ran this institute before-“

“Your ancestor – singular – ran this institute for barely a day,” Magnus interrupted him, “and in that time, he almost started an all-out war with the Downworld. I hope you don’t intend to model your leadership after his.”

He had not had a lot of patience for this interaction to begin with; not a month went by that he didn’t yearn for the times when the New York Institute was at the forefront of improving Downworld relations. Things in general had been far from good, certainly, but at least he’d been able to believe the leadership had been acting in good faith. Maybe the passing time had given him a rose-tinted view of the period, but at the moment, Magnus missed that aspect of it, at least.

Who would have thought that with Alec no longer in the helm even in name, his former institute would eventually regress to one of the most notoriously backward ones?

Sometimes Magnus genuinely wanted to revamp the whole decentralised way warlocks self-governed just so that he could create himself a less local leadership position. He could probably get himself a seat in the Council in Idris with less than a snap of his fingers, but it was too much paper-pushing and besides, he vastly preferred New York as a town.

Not to mention, he was more than capable of handling a situation such as this.

Magnus sat up straighter, concentrating the full force of his calm furiousness on Herondale.

“I do not need your consent to retrieve her from your cell,” he said, voice dripping with authority. “This was a courtesy request. You will not see me make many in the future.”

Herondale gulped visibly.

Magnus was out of the Institute within ten minutes, cradling the little girl he’d come for in his arms.

 

It took considerably more time for him to get back home, too preoccupied with making sure he’d done all he could for the day until Liliana threatened to literally kick him out of her home if he didn’t stop fussing and let her start to get to know her new charge in peace.

He didn’t take a portal but instead walked in the hopes that the calm evening air would improve his mood.

It didn’t really. Magnus arrived home still full of exasperation at Herondale, the New York Institute and a little bit at the world in general.

The sight of a familiar pair of well-worn shoes already by the door helped just a little more. At least, they gave him licence to march into the living room, plop down dramatically on the sofa and pronounce, “I have had _the_ most trying day today.”

Alec emerged from behind a bookshelf, already in casual clothes, his hair a little wet and overall look altogether delightfully domestic.

“I’ll make it a double,” he said as he walked past Magnus straight to the drinks cart.

Magnus closed his eyes and let out a long breath. “I knew there was a reason I love you so much.”

“My tendency to underestimate volume when pouring alcohol?”

Magnus opened his eyes again to respond to Alec’s grin. “Among other things.”

The drink apparently finished, Alec came over and handed Magnus the glass before settling down next to him.

“Want to talk about this most trying day you’ve had?”

“Same old,” Magnus said. “God but I miss you sometimes.”

Alec shook with quiet laughter. “I come home from Idris every day. You made me a special portal for that.”

Magnus sighed, resting his head against Alec’s. Alec grabbed his hand and squeezed gently.

“I miss working with you. Or just any reasonable people.”

Even though they were still relaxing on the sofa, he could feel Alec sit up a little bit straighter. “If we’re talking about this in work terms, I’m sensing a serious complaint from an extremely important ally. Should I look into how they run that Institute?”

“It’s probably below your paygrade, Consul Lightwood,” Magnus said, tugging Alec back down to more comfortably cuddle with. “And I happen to know Raphael has already filed an official complaint. You’ll likely hear about a leadership change within a month in any case. If you don’t, you might have a bigger problem in your hands than one rogue Head of the Institute.”

Alec nodded. “I’ll keep it in mind, anyway. Nothing but my full attention for the High Warlock of Brooklyn, the most influential man in the whole Downworld.”

Magnus rewarded the flattery with a long kiss and was just about to initiate another when Alec pulled slightly away.

Magnus arched an eyebrow. “Your full attention lasted a woefully short time.”

“We’ll get back to that.” Alec blinked, and his gaze shifted from Magnus’s lips to his eyes. “I just thought that we should order in. Unless you feel like cooking.”

“Not particularly.” Magnus trailed his fingers slowly up the back of Alec’s neck. “Do you?”

Alec snorted. “If I do, are you just going to do your thing and magic it better like always?”

Magnus gave Alec his brightest smile. “To be fair, that’s the only way to make it edible.”

Alec rolled his eyes, but the vague noise he made was in agreement, or at least acknowledgement. “Ordering in it is.”

“Three hundred years,” Magnus said, savouring the words on his tongue, “and yet your cooking still hasn’t improved.”

Even if time had not worked its magic on Alec’s cooking skills, it at least had taught him to accept teasing about it without affront. Or maybe just to shoot back right where his hit would land best.

“I’ll get there.” He smiled at Magnus, eyes sparkling. “I have eternity to work on it.”

Even after all this time, the reminder made Magnus’s heart expand three sizes. He did. Magnus couldn’t wait to get to spend it with him.

 

\---

 

**2027**

“You look worried,” Magnus said as he stepped into Alec’s office. “Something wrong?”

Alec startled a little, and Magnus wasn’t quite sure if the fire message he sent was on purpose or if Alec had been still thinking it over before his stele moved as an instinctual response to being taken off guard.

It probably wouldn’t matter. Even if Alec had somehow ended up writing hate mail denouncing the Consul and the entire Council, they weren’t likely to retaliate in any significant way. When circumstances almost accidentally rendered an already incredibly capable shadowhunter immortal, not even the most stubborn Clave official wanted to make him into an enemy.

“Nothing’s wrong,” Alec said, not very convincingly, and added, “I’m gambling.”

Magnus leaned against the desk, putting his hand on Alec’s shoulder. Alec leaned up for a kiss, and Magnus was all too glad to fulfil that wish.

“I didn’t think you were the type,” he said as they pulled away. “On what?”

Alec cracked a smile, but his eyes were too serious for it to seem genuine. “Consul Penhallow offered me a seat on the Council again.”

Magnus realised a little too late that his grip on Alec’s shoulder had tightened. He forced his hand to relax. They’d already gone through this test to their relationship once, and even though everything between them had still been new then, they’d come out stronger.

“What did you tell her?”

Alec looked past Magnus, but his hand found Magnus’s knee. “That I could not possibly accept it so long as the downworlder entrance ban to Idris would prevent me from seeing my husband if I did.”

Magnus used his free hand to push a tuft of hair off Alec’s forehead and reached down to kiss it. “Not that I don’t appreciate the gesture, but aren’t you afraid they’ll eventually stop asking?”

He remembered a night, or several, already some time away but still fresh in his memory, right after they’d come back from the trip to Hell that had ended up having the side effect of immortality for Alec. He’d summoned his courage, feeling like he was teetering on the thin line between delight and despair, and managed to ask Alec if Alec regretted that accidental gift.

Alec had been incredibly sweet and sincere, of course he’d been, but he’d only ever managed to fully reassure Magnus when he’d shifted to talking about how immortality would also give him time to push through more reforms than he’d ever thought possible during one lifetime.

Magnus appreciated all the work Alec had done in New York, but if he truly wanted to put those grand plans into action, he’d have to one day accept a position higher up than just the Head of one Institute.

“A little,” Alec said. “Which is why I’m gambling that I’ll be able to accept this one.”

Magnus tilted his head, brow furrowed. “Do explain.”

“I talked to Aline, unofficially.” Alec finally looked Magnus in the eye again. “It turns out the Clave is eager enough to get me to accept that they’re ready to make an exception for you on the downworlder ban.”

Magnus bit his lip. He should probably feel happy about not having to worry about Alec being forced to choose between his work calling and their relationship, but he could hardly feel overjoyed about a minor exception to an unjust rule.

Alec seemed to notice. “It’s not enough, but we thought that if they’re willing to do that, it might actually be possible to push them into abandoning the ban altogether. So, gambling.”

Magnus blinked, taken completely off-guard.

“You really think that’ll work?”

Alec shrugged his shoulders. “Fingers crossed. Aline’s doing her best high political magic for it, and she’s amazing at subtle persuasion. It’s not like there are a lot of downworlders eager to go to Idris, it might not seem like a huge change to the Clave. And if it doesn’t work out, well, there’s really no shared ground for me to go work for them anyway. Not at this point.”

Magnus smiled, and his hand slipped from Alec’s shoulder to cradle the side of his face almost of its own volition. “You’re really serious about this, aren’t you? The long-term change.”

Alec smiled up at him. “I have a lot of time on my hands. My husband’s a busy man, I figured I’d need something else to do as well.”

“Well,” Magnus said, reaching down to rest his forehead against Alec’s, “I’ll eagerly await seeing everything my husband will accomplish.”

He closed his eyes to savour the moment, but the last thing he saw was Alec’s bright, happy look.

“Likewise.”

It had always been a weird experience, Magnus thought, being immortal and so separate from time, but still living in the present moment. It had been less than three hundred years since he’d created portals, and yet he now couldn’t imagine his life – or anyone else’s – without them.

He couldn’t even imagine what their life would look like in three hundred years, let alone beyond that, if they got so lucky. But for a second, he banished all of that from his mind and just enjoyed the present moment, here with Alec.

 

\---

 

**3007**

When Magnus had been about two hundred years old, he’d watched an elderly gentleman help his equally elderly wife into a carriage and realised he’d never get to grow old with anyone.

He still couldn’t. At this point, it might very well be the only experience he and Alec hadn’t shared yet.

Then again, growing old was overrated if you had the option of sharing a life spanning lifetimes. The only price you had to pay for the luxury was forgetting a lot of it. Forgetting most things, even. Magnus remembered the first time he’d ever shown Alec his cat eyes; it was one of those memories that he’d likely never forget, like the precious glimpses he still had of his mother, alive. He’d always retain that burst of happiness, the slow warm feeling of love that Alec had made him feel with his reaction.

He remembered the morning after, too, but it was a different sort of memory. Magnus knew that he had been pushing away a nagging worry that the events of the previous night would change things, take something important away from the fragile, beautiful thing they’d been building together. But whenever he tried to remember how it had felt, he simply found that he couldn’t. He had thoroughly forgotten how it felt to be anything less than secure in the knowledge that he’d been blessed with the love and loyalty of the man currently sleeping beside him.

Maybe that was why it rarely hit him properly, how lucky he’d been to get this. It was so easy to forget that there had been a time when this – the beautiful, eternal love he woke up every day expecting to share – had felt like the most hurtful product of his imagination, likely something that didn’t exist and certainly not something meant for Magnus. Sometimes he remembered that Alec had not been born immortal, and the realisation shocked him a little.

But there was something familiar about this, the sun gently spilling into the soft sheets around him, Alec’s warm weight and his little snores reminding Magnus of his presence even when Magnus closed his eyes. Something that evoked memories dearly cherished but altered by time.

Alec shifted in his arms, and the end to his snores signalled to Magnus that he was waking up before Alec met his gaze with a sunny smile, as if he’d known what sort of thoughts were occupying Magnus’s mind.

“Morning.”

“Good morning.” He settled under the covers again, arms snaking around Alec’s waist, and placed his head on Alec’s shoulder.

“So is today a ‘not going to get out of bed’ type of day?” Alec’s hand found Magnus’s and he laced their fingers together. “Not that I’m complaining.”

“Maybe later,” Magnus said, arching his head a little to meet Alec’s gaze. “I woke up particularly in love with you today.”

Alec’s smile widened, and he shifted away from under Magnus’s head to contort himself into a position to properly kiss Magnus.

“I love you particularly much, too,” Alec said once they’d settled comfortably against each other again.

There had been times when they’d barely had the time to squeeze in moments like these, and there would no doubt be such times in their future, too, but that was all the more reason to enjoy these precious moments – or days, or years – of peace and comfort and sweet love.

Magnus closed his eyes, savouring the moment. He had no idea if it would become one of those memories that would stick with him through centuries, but that didn’t matter. It was a lovely moment on its own, and if he ever forgot it, he’d have ample chances to create new memories with Alec.

They had all the time in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm also on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/forgetmequite)!


End file.
